PORTLAND, Ore. -- Damian Lillard always admired Brandon Roy for his ability to make game-changing shots. Now the second-year Trail Blazers point guard is making the game-changers of his own.

Lillard hit a 3-pointer as time expired to send Portland to the Western Conference semifinals with a 99-98 Game 6 playoff victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night. It was the first buzzer-beating shot to win a playoff series since John Stockton's 3 that led Utah over Houston in the 1997 Western Conference finals.

"I've got a lot of confidence in myself," Lillard, an Oakland native, said. "When you have a team full of guys that you know have the same confidence in you when the ball is in your hands, and they're constantly encouraging you because they believe in you, it makes it that much easier."

The shot -- which propelled the Blazers out of the first round for the first time in 14 years -- was being hailed Saturday as one of the greatest ever for the Blazers. It drew comparisons to Roy's memorable winning 3-pointer against the Rockets in a 2008 regular-season game.

"I saw it fall in the net and I was like, 'Wow, that was an unbelievable shot,' '' Roy said at the time about the 30-footer. "It was a blessing from above."

Roy also staged one of the biggest comebacks in the team's playoff history against Dallas in 2011, when he scored 18 fourth-quarter points and the Blazers erased a 23-point deficit for an 84-82 first-round victory. Roy played for the Blazers from 2006-2011.

LaMarcus Aldridge was on the court for both buzzer-beating 3s.

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"He's definitely in the Brandon Roy category for me," Aldridge said. "Brandon's shot and his shot were very similar. Contested, at the buzzer, and from deep. You have to put that shot and his shot up there together."

Lillard was the Rookie of the Year after the Blazers took him in with the sixth pick in the 2012 draft out of Weber State.

Lillard averaged 20.7 points and 5.6 assists in the regular season his sophomore year with the team.